Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

And the Oscar for Wingnut Babbling Goes To…

The Heritage Foundation, which was once actually a serious think tank and has now apparently become a home for third-rate polemicists, has awarded the 2013 Breitbart Award for Excellence in Journalism to…(drumroll please)…Michelle Malkin. They like her, they really like her!

The Heritage Foundation and Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity presented the second annual Breitbart Award to Michelle Malkin, syndicated columnist and Fox News Channel contributor. Malkin was honored at tonight’s Krieble Dinner at Heritage’s Resource Bank. The award was presented by Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint and Franklin Center President Jason Stverak.

The Breitbart Award honors those who advocate for the truth — a quality that Malkin exemplifies. As the founder of three successful conservative blogs — michellemalkin.com, Hot Air (now owned by Salem Communications), and Twitchy — has changed the way Americans consume media. Malkin dedicates her life to tackling the issues others often shy away from.

Planet Wingnuttia is all abuzz, waiting to see who wins the David Vitter Award for the Promotion of Family Values and and the Michele Bachmann Award for Mental Stability.

This is an all-but-explicit admission that the Heritage Foundation is just an empty shell of a “think” tank. If they still had anything to offer in the way of serious ideas or discourse of any sort, they would not have had to stoop this low.

The “conservative” movement — small or big C — hasn’t had a serious agenda since the 1990s. ALL of their central ideas have been proven to be dead wrong, if not fraudulent from the get-go.

Really? When was that? It was founded in 1971 with funding from Joseph Coors and Richard Mellon Scaife and (like the whole “libertarian” movement) has never been anything other than a front for corporate interests. It cut its teeth lying about the damage to the ozone layer – and is still doing so.

In one sense they probably didn’t have a choice/ If the award persists they’d have to give it to Malkin sooner or later, because she’s just about the only prominent non-white woman they’ve got. So why wait?

Using the words “Michelle Malkin” and “journalism” in the same sentence should be a crime.
Unless the sentence is something along the lines of: “Whatever the fuck Michelle Malkin does, it’s not journalism.”

I suppose the Heritage Foundation was a serious think tank back when it led the fight to prove that smoking was good for your health. I mean, the science and medical community eventually agreed with them, right? That’s why cigarettes are proscribed by so many doctors now. That whole “cancer” thing was just scare mongering by left-wing radicals.